Fourteen-year-old Abigail Bergman — who acts on the Family Channel’s “Next Step” series — and her friend Polinah Ouskova, 15, were reported missing by their families after they didn’t return to their Oakville, Ont., homes on Monday night.

A statement released by Toronto police on Saturday said the pair were confirmed to have been in downtown Toronto on Friday.

Police are asking for the public’s help as they search for a teenage actress and her friend who have been missing in the Toronto area for nearly a week.

Fourteen-year-old Abigail Bergman — who acts on the Family Channel’s “Next Step” series — and her friend Polinah Ouskova, 15, were reported missing by their families after they didn’t return to their Oakville, Ont. homes on Monday night.

Update: missing #Oakville teens seen at Union Station #Toronto at 6:20 pm last night ^jcb

After hearing from each girl’s family separately, police determined the teens likely disappeared together.

“These two girls have gone missing before together, and police did locate and return them home,” said Sgt. Chantal Corner, a spokeswoman for the Halton Regional Police.

The previous disappearance, however, didn’t last this long, Corner said, adding that police were working hard to find the pair.

“Investigators are still following up with any kind of tips that we’re receiving from the community, from people that know them, we are working with the families as well,” she said.

“Our efforts are continuous and we’re doing our best just to catch up, locate them and bring them home.”

Police believe the two girls were last seen together at Toronto’s Union Station on Tuesday evening. The railway hub connects the city to parts of the Greater Toronto Area, and also has trains to destinations across the country and the U.S.

“Anything right now is possible until we make some sort of contact or we have another sighting,” Corner said when asked about whether the girls might have left the GTA altogether. “We’re following up with every lead that we can.”

Anyone who sees the girls or knows anything about their location is being asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.

There are also hopes that Bergman in particular may be recognized by someone who watches her show. She has a recurring role as a character named Abi on the show about a group of teenage dancers.

“The Next Step” twitter page has been posting updates from police on the teens’ disappearance and is also asking anyone with information to contact authorities.

“We’re hoping that someone who is a fan of the show might recognize them if they see them,” said Jaime Basset, a spokeswoman for DHX Television, who owns The Family Channel, which airs the show.

“Everyone is concerned for both Abi and Polinah’s safety and hope that they return home to their families as soon as possible.”

Both girls are described as white, about five-foot-two and about 110 pounds.

Bergman has newly dyed blond hair and was last seen wearing an Adidas zip-up track suit style jacket and dark leggings or slim jeans.

Polinah has long blonde hair and was last seen wearing a black Bench jacket and dark pants.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/gta-police-searching-for-teen-family-channel-and-friend-whove-been-missing-since-monday/feed0stdUntitled-1Best advice before a driving test? How not to fail. These are top five biggest reasons people flunkhttp://driving.ca/auto-news/news/the-top-five-reasons-for-failing-a-driving-test
http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/the-top-five-reasons-for-failing-a-driving-test#commentsThu, 12 Mar 2015 16:24:56 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=717986

Giving your kid tips on passing their driving test? Why not start with the top reasons they might fail?

Tim Danter owns the DriveWise school in Oakville, Ont. He’s prepared thousands of teenagers for their roadway rite of passage.

Additionally, he carries out assessments for corporate fleets of drivers of all ages, getting a front row seat to how our driving improves as we age – and how it deteriorates.

Parallel parking: Eavesdrop on a roomful of 18-year-olds discussing their final road test, and you’ll hear a lot of talk about parallel parking. This was the bugaboo when I was getting my test; surely it’s a myth?

“No, you mess up the parallel parking badly enough, you’ll flunk your test,” according to Danter. “It’s about positioning, but it’s also about jumping the curb or not having control of the vehicle as you back up.”

Dangerous action: “If the examiner has to take physical or verbal control of the car, that’s a fail,” says Danter. If you’ve pulled out in front of a car or made a dangerous lane change, you’ll be rebooking. Sure-fire way to know if you’ve screwed up? “If you get honked at; getting honked at is not a good sign.”

Lack of confidence: Danter says many learning drivers think by driving under the speed limit or hesitating too long at intersections, they’ll be exhibiting a caution that will be rewarded. They’re wrong. “They’re not showing true mastery of the skills. They’ll lose points, and operating the vehicle that way doesn’t reflect real life applications.” This is all before the problem with impeding the flow of traffic is taken into consideration.

A driving record develops very much like a credit rating. For young drivers, starting that driving record as early as possible will lighten the insurance load years down the road.
Getty Images, Archive

Collision: “The test is over. Doesn’t matter who caused the crash, protocol is that the test is stopped.” I asked if fault is determined by an examiner, and the impact that might have on future tests. “If the applicant isn’t at fault, they simply rebook the test. If they are at fault, they will be charged by police under the Highway Traffic Act.” Losing demerits points and/or getting a fine before you even get your final licence in the mail; bummer.

Too many errors: the most common reason of all. Break the law, you’ve failed. Yes, that means even a little bit of speeding. If you take a look at the list of ways you can mess up, you will notice a lot of little boxes waiting to be ticked on that long piece of paper on the examiner’s clipboard. Here in Ontario, for example, a lane change is broken down into eight movements; eight different chances to earn a tick on one exercise. You not only have to complete 10 different sections (comprised of 24 subsections), you have to do it safely and with confidence. You need to master the skills, not just know them.

I asked Danter about people driving to rural communities to take their final tests, circumventing crowded city streets and things like cyclists and pedestrians. “People do it; technically, a DriveTest facility is the same anywhere, but it’s absolutely different in smaller communities.” It’s not a myth. Some driving instruction places advertise their high pass rates achieved by ferrying students – for a fee – to more remote testing areas. If you’ve ever wondered how some people manage to get licensed, part of your answer might be here.

So when Danter is doing fleet assessments of experienced drivers, it must be easy. He laughs. “We see a different set of behaviours. The top three offences are speeding, following too closely and compromised observation skills.” Experience is a good thing behind the wheel, but the actions of seasoned drivers can be the reverse of the beginners; no more nerves, but not enough caution.

It can be nerve-wracking for parents as the new drivers in the house are learning. I’ve driven with people who are instinctively good drivers at a young age; I’ve driven with many who, with experience, drive well. And I’ve driven with people who have no business being behind the wheel, either at all or any longer. Instead of allowing wannabe drivers to go fishing for easier places to take their licences, it should be harder to get licensed, period. We should be retesting far sooner than the 80-year-old cut off in many places, as Danter’s corporate reassessments show. Car fatalities are falling because of the safer car surrounding the driver, not because of a better driver behind the wheel.

Recently, a video of a 92-year-old Wisconsin man hitting nine cars in a parking lot in about a minute went viral. He drove off, after ramming them both in forward and reverse. The most stunning part? No charges were laid. Here’s a guy who only needed one more car to score a perfect strike, yet telling police he panicked is good enough.

]]>http://driving.ca/auto-news/news/the-top-five-reasons-for-failing-a-driving-test/feed0stdfotolia_10925428_subscription_monthly_mThe top five biggest reasons for failing a driving testThe top five biggest reasons for failing a driving testToronto police on lookout for Underground Vault Lid Bandits, because scrap metal thievery is a thinghttp://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/toronto-police-on-lookout-for-underground-vault-lid-bandits-because-scrap-metal-thievery-is-a-thing
http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/toronto-police-on-lookout-for-underground-vault-lid-bandits-because-scrap-metal-thievery-is-a-thing#commentsTue, 04 Nov 2014 23:49:31 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=539551

Toronto, like Gotham before it, is suffering from a crime wave. For seven weeks, thieves have flummoxed police from Midland Avenue to Carpenter Road and all the way up to Finch and beyond. Six times at least the thieves have struck, and that’s just since Sept. 13. Their target, identical in every case: underground vault lids.

Yes, underground vault lids, the kind that cover, well, underground vaults for cable infrastructure and the like. Police believe the crooks are after them for their scrap metal, although, according to those same police, the lids don’t actually have much metal in them and have only nominal value as scrap.

Still, the stolen lids present a problem. Aside from the hassle and cost of replacing them, there’s the safety issue. Six stolen lids means six open holes for children or texting adults to walk into. And to end the scourge, police are asking for the public’s helped in identifying the crooks, or as the National Post has dubbed them, the Underground Vault Lid Bandits.

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Handout, Halton Regional Police ServiceA file photograph of a statue of a Buddhist monk sitting atop a unicorn at an Oakville cemetery. It was later stolen.

The UVLBs are hardly the first in the GTA to steal unusual objects for scrap. Over the years scrap hounds have snagged everything from the innovative to the cruel and hugely inconvenient in their quest to quench a seemingly never-ending thirst for surplus metal.

Some lowlights from recent years:

• In 2009, thieves stole a copper statue of a monk sitting sidesaddle on a unicorn from a cemetery in Oakville. The statue, imported from China, stood guard over a local family’s burial plot.

• Also in 2009, police recovered 659 bronze vases and 16 bronze tombstone plaques from a warehouse in Scarborough. All were thought to be linked to a graveyard robbery ring that was broken up when two men were busted in Vaughan trying to pry name plates off tombstones with a crowbar.

• In 2007, scrappers in Oakville cut a giant statue of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko off at the ankles. A gift from the Soviet Union, the statue was said at the time to be worth $350,000. Only the head was recovered, at a Burlington recycling plant.

Brent Foster / National PostThe head of a statue of Taras Shevchenko is pictured at an Oakville police station.

• In 2012, thieves stole more than 150 metal plaques marking the graves of Canadian veterans at a cemetery in St. Catharines. About 90 of the markers, which each weighed about 2.5 kg and cost about $50 new, were later recovered at a local scrap yard.

• Last February, someone made off with a giant copper chunk of a public art installation at Art Eggleton Park.

• In the summer of 2013, 24 Go Trains on the Lakeshore East line were delayed for up to 40 minutes after thieves looking for copper wire cut signaling cables on poles between Pickering and Toronto. Despite delaying 45,000 commuters, the would-be thieves were unable to make off with any wire.

1. Words used to describe a film like “sweeping” and “epic” and “languorous,” usually mean “self-absorbed,” “too long” and “well, at least, it will allow you a nice sleep.”

2. Too much coffee is not a thing.

3. If someone in a lineup asks you if you like mumblecore, tell them, “Sorry, I’m not sure I can make out what you’re saying.”

4. Never sit beside a director and the members of their immediate family in case the quality of their film forces you to abandon your seat, leaving you to search for a delicate word for “diarrhea,” which, it turns out, does not exist.

5. Boasting about knowing a guy who knows David Cronenberg’s cousin (“It’s true, he’s even weird in real life!”) is not a thing either.

6. Using your festival program to a) battle a wasp b) gesture menacingly at line-jumpers c) bellow at a friend as if it were trumpet and d) affect a unicorn’s horn after the last in a succession of long, sleepless days is all OK.

9. Waiting in line to get into some loser bar in Yorkville to see one of the guys from Big Bang Theory (trying to go legit) when you could be seeing a Turkmeni documentary about wild sheep makes you as bad as Walter from Pickering (who is NOT Chris Rock).

10. Popcorn is not dinner. Although it is delicious.

11. Moaning that a film is “probably Canadian” means that you are probably from Oakville.

12. Traffic is terrible and lineups are long and pollution kind of sucks and people can sometimes be rude, but it’s a city, fer chrissakes, and no one cares what you think (also you’re probably from Oakville).

13. Words used to describe a film like “politically meta” and “abstract” and “a disorienting mash-up,” usually mean “self-conscious,” “confusing” and “well, at least, it will allow you a nice sleep.”

That is not Jay Baruchel. It’s just that weird guy who rotated your tires

14. If you overhear someone in the lineup prattle on about the genius of the El Salvadoran avant-garde, and you tell your date, “What I wouldn’t do for a large sock filled with manure!” you can read your future with that person depending on whether they can identify the quote.

15. That is not Jay Baruchel. It’s just that weird guy who rotated your tires.

16. If someone standing near you in the lineup exhorts, “This year Crumblehead were, like, so sick at Bonaroo!” it probably means you are going to the wrong movie.

17. Popcorn is not lunch. Oh, who am I kidding.

18. You can’t fake knowing about the affect of Turkish realism on the state of alternative Greek cinema. Although My Uncle is a Lesbian Quarter Horse did have a kind of cross-border ripple.

19. Wait, that is Jay Baruchel.

20. Is that a script in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

21. But seriously, that’s a script? In your pants?

22. “I dated one of those guys from Kenny vs. Spenny” is also a thing.

there is no delicate word for ‘diarrhea’

23. Calling TIFF the “Festival of Festivals” makes you not cool, only old.

24. Showing people tricks that your phone can do while standing in line will only make the wait seem longer.

25. No one cares that your aunt needs gall bladder surgery. Although, you know, I hope she feels OK soon.

26. If you find a performer of some note hurrying past you even though you have called out their name, you might cut them some slack because you never know what might be causing their haste. Besides, there is no delicate word for “diarrhea.”

27. Popcorn is not breakfast. Unless you eat two bags.

28. Festival parties are lame, so don’t even try and get in. Oh, who am I kidding: Festival parties are great!!

Jeff Bennett is the Tory candidate for London West, the type of riding the Progressive Conservatives are going to have to win Thursday if they are going to form Ontario’s government.

Mr. Bennett’s impromptu speech in his packed, shoebox campaign office during Tim Hudak’s whistle-stop visit Tuesday suggests the Tories have a good chance of wrestling it from the NDP.

The investment adviser is the son an OPP officer killed in the line of duty. His wife works in healthcare and his in-laws are retired teachers. He doesn’t sound like a life-long partisan but he says he couldn’t sit idly by as the province sinks further in debt.

“It’s like someone coming to me with $310,000 on their credit card, spending more than they earn and asking if it’s OK to keep spending,” he said, in an impassioned introduction for his leader.

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“The province is on the wrong track and the Million Jobs plan is the only one out there to get it back on the right track.”

He encouraged his supporters to “run through first base” on Thursday. “There’s an atmosphere of excitement in this office — you can feel the momentum.”

At least you could until Mr. Hudak took the mike. The Tory leader is not an inspiring figure; his speeches are not the stuff to stir anyone’s blood.

But Mr. Bennett is right – the Tories have the momentum going into the last day of the election.

My observation from the road is that the Hudak campaign is glissading smoothly around Liberal-held parts of the province.

The message has been the same since day one – pull Ontario out of its “death spiral” by reining in public spending. It has been tweaked of late, to make Mr. Hudak appear less menacing. The PC leader is now positioned as being in favour of a province where the “disabled, the young, the poor and the vulnerable” get a leg up, replacing the “rigged system that benefits only Liberal insiders.”

Contrast the consistency of that strategy with the shifting Liberal campaign since last week’s leaders’ debate. Since then, the Grits appear to have switched to Plan B – lead in the boxing glove.

A Claire Hoy election notebook from the 1999 provincial election that appeared in the Windsor Star quoted a senior Tory source who quipped: “Have they said that children will starve to death if we win? That’s always the ultimate sign of desperation. Bob Rae said it before Mike Harris got elected. David Peterson used it before Rae got elected.”

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Right on schedule, on Monday in Cambridge, Kathleen Wynne said Mr. Hudak’s plan to trim the public payroll, in order to balance the budget, would put schools at risk. “That would put our kids at risk,” she said.

The Tory leader responded at an event in Brampton Monday night, calling the comments “desperate, rather sad … and beneath the dignity of the office of the Premier of Ontario.”

It is all those things and suggests strongly that the Liberal campaign team doesn’t like what it is seeing in its internal polling. The response is to sling mud in all directions and hope some of it sticks. My experience is that those types of campaign tend to lose.

The Hudak campaign still has its own issues. One campaign volunteer in Oakville said there is still resistance on the doorsteps because of Mr. Hudak’s pledge to reduce the public service by 100,000 people.

“I wish he hadn’t put a number on it. People say ‘That could be my husband’.”

But the PC leader is keeping calm and carrying on, serene in the knowledge that he has run the campaign he wanted to run.

Past performance is not a guide to the future, as they say in financial risk warnings. But there are enough signals in the home stretch of the Ontario election campaign to suggest that the Liberals are losing ground to the Tories and even a resurgent NDP.

Whether it will be significant enough to cause a PC upset is unknowable at this stage. But it is instructive that Progressive Conservative campaign sources do not rule out the prospect of a Tory majority. “A lot of possibilities are still on the table,” said one person.

The other leaders keep suggesting that Mr. Hudak is crazy and intent on scorching the province just for the hell of it. Yet every night on their televisions they see a harmless looking man staring back, re-assuring them that cows will still give milk if he is elected. Such are the thin margins between success and defeat, that disconnect may be crucial when the votes are counted.

What do you get when you combine the effusive energy of Michael “Pinball” Clemons and the unabashed salesmanship of Doug Ford? On Friday, in the financial district, lots of coins and bills for the Daily Bread Food Bank. The two joined forces for Mr. Clemons’ “Just Give” campaign, which encouraged people to donate peanut butter (or the peanut free replacement WowButter, which contributed 7,500 pounds of the spread) to the food bank, or to donate money. They targeted peanut butter because it’s an item that provides several meals for families. Just Give’s public events stretched on all week, and included mayoral candidates Olivia Chow, John Tory, David Soknacki and Karen Stintz. The Post‘s Natalie Alcoba brings you the scene at Scotia Plaza.

11:30 — Pinball Clemons and his wife, Diane, arrive with his mother, Anna Marie, at around the same time as Councillor Doug Ford. “There he is!” exclaims Mr. Clemons, slapping Mr. Ford on the rear end. Mr. Ford turns, grinning ear to ear, then introduces him to his mom, Diane.

11:30 — The councillor dons a white T-shirt that has the slogan “painting the town with kindness” printed on the back. He pulls it snug over his frame and says he hopes it is an extra large. “That’s the European size,” quips Mr. Clemons. “Not only is he a great athlete, he’s a comedian,” says Mr. Ford. Not one to be outdone, he proclaims Mr. Clemons “the greatest athlete this country has ever seen” and the two moms as their secret weapons. “We had to bring in not literally the heavy weights but they’re heavy weights in sales,” says Mr. Ford.

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11:35 — The councillor is in full salesman flight, working the concourse atrium at Scotia Plaza with conviction. A young man seems tempted by the prospect of a jar of peanut butter touched by a Ford. “I’ll sign it, but you’re donating to the food bank,” says Mr. Ford. The would-be donor is squirrelly around the cameras, though. He doesn’t want to be on television. “We got our first loonie!” Mr. Ford says triumphantly. “Mom, you got to start selling.”

11:38 — “We need a team huddle,” says Mr. Ford to the volunteers.

11:40 — A man steps forward to donate $50 and tell Mr. Ford that he will be the “next mayor of Toronto.” “Mitch just fed five families,” responded the councillor.

11:45 — Reporters congregate around Mr. Clemons. He is asked how he feels about racial slurs by Mayor Rob Ford, who is in rehab, and for which he has yet to apologize. “That really has nothing to do with me. That’s more of the mayor’s job and his responsibility. The mayor has to handle himself and do what’s important for him. Doug has come out today,” said Mr. Clemons. “From my standpoint, people should only apologize if they feel they need to. Other than that, you’re not really apologizing.”

Laura Pedersen/National PostDoug Ford (left) and his mother Diane Ford (right) watch the delivery of donations of peanut butter and peanut free spread at the Daily Food Bank as a part of an donation event put on by Michael "Pinball" Clemons and Doug Ford in Toronto, Ontario, June 6, 2014.

11:47 — What about running for mayor himself someday? Mr. Clemons, who lives in Oakville and is in the process of getting his Canadian citizenship, said he may pursue “some level of public service” in his mid-fifties. “That doesn’t mean mayor necessarily,” said the 49-year-old.

11:54 — “Come on ladies, turn on the gas!” Doug Ford hollers to the two moms.

12:00 — Diane Ford cautiously circles the room, calling out softly to passers-by with jars of peanut butter and WOW in her hands. She seems to marvel at her middle son and the way he approaches people. “I was never a good salesman,” she confesses. Later, while watching Doug take photos, she remarks, “he didn’t talk that much growing up.”

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He had been trapped for a couple of minutes before passersby were able to cut his hoodie and get him down, police said. Someone began CPR at the scene and paramedics took over once they arrived, said Sgt Chantal Corner.

He was rushed from his home near Bronte and Dundas to a local hospital, then transferred to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in critical condition.

On Wednesday, police said Jack had been taken off life support and is on the mend in hospital.

A nine-year-old boy is in critical condition after he got caught in a garage door at his home in Oakville, west of Toronto.

The boy was ducking under the opening garage door to retrieve his bike from inside. His hoodie got entangled in the door, which then lifted him off the ground, police said.

“It’s one of those freak accidents that you can’t prepare or plan for,” said Sgt. Chantal Corner with Halton Regional Police.

Paramedics were called to the home (near Bronte and Dundas) around 7:15 p.m. Monday evening by a passerby who tried to help the boy.

Someone began CPR at the scene and paramedics took over once they arrived, said Sgt. Corner.

He was rushed to a local hospital, then transferred to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

Sgt. Corner said the boy’s parents were home at the time of the incident.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/nine-year-old-boy-in-critical-condition-after-jacket-snags-in-garage-door-opener/feed0stdHalton_Police_Car.JPGChris Selley: If Toronto's transit debate has to be crazy, so be ithttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/chris-selley-if-torontos-transit-debate-has-to-be-crazy-so-be-it
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/chris-selley-if-torontos-transit-debate-has-to-be-crazy-so-be-it#commentsThu, 10 Oct 2013 13:57:38 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=132110

“As a new Premier leading a new government, I pledge to you that this will not happen under my watch.” So said Kathleen Wynne on Tuesday, at a press conference where she apologized for the astonishing bill Ontario taxpayers will foot for her Liberals’ desire to win seats in Mississauga and Oakville — $1-billion, or as near as makes little difference, to cancel two unpopular gas-fired power plant projects in the middle of a desperate election campaign.

You really needn’t bother considering whether to believe her. “This” — disregarding expert opinion, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, purely for partisan gain — has already happened under her watch. It happened on Sept. 4, specifically, when Transportation Minister Glen Murray announced the Liberals would build an endlessly debated extension of the Bloor-Danforth subway line into Scarborough. Conveniently enough, the Liberals were right in the middle of a by-election campaign at the time. In Scarborough, wouldn’t you know it.

In doing that, Mr. Murray effectively killed a fully funded and approved light rail project being built by Metrolinx, the now utterly emasculated arm’s-length provincial body that’s supposed to be managing transit infrastructure in the Greater Toronto Area. And he effectively flushed $85-million of taxpayer money, the cost of cancelling that LRT project, down the john.

Other than a decimal place, Metrolinx standing in for the Ontario Power Authority, and the enabling influence of Toronto’s omnishambolic City Council, which could never make up its mind whatit wanted in or under Scarborough, this is basically the gas plants all over again.

Also on Tuesday, City Council narrowly reaffirmed its support for the Scarborough subway — and pledged to make up the funding gap left by provincial and federal contributions. It would be silly to think that settles the matter once and for all. But for the first time in its life as a subway project, the plan for Scarborough is approved and fully funded.

And that leaves public transit advocates at a tactical crossroads. As Ms. Wynne and Mr. Murray have expertly demonstrated, no project is safe from political interference. (Presumably there is some point of no return along a construction timeline, but goodness knows where it is.) With some honourable exceptions, almost no one on City Council advocates and votes on transit issues in the city’s overall best interests. When it comes to anything other than subways, the NIMBYs, YIMBYs and political strategists are firmly in charge.

But in the process of approving the Scarborough subway, City Council drunkenly flailed its way across the Rubicon: It voted to raise property taxes to fund a piece of transit infrastructure out of its own citizens’ pockets. It happens to be a vastly overbuilt piece of transit infrastructure; it happens not to be the subway we need most, namely the Downtown Relief Line (DRL). But nevertheless, this is potentially good news. Rob Ford’s “free subways” myth is officially dead.

There is no point pretending that just because Mr. Ford and fellow nominal conservatives voted to fund this subway, they’ll vote to fund any other. Ideological consistency isn’t really a thing on City Council, as evidenced by the very fact that Mr. Ford and his allies voted to raise taxes to fund transit in the first place. (Hard as Mr. Ford blows his victory bugle, you certainly will not find that in his election platform.)

Nor is there any point pretending that the DRL will be next on the agenda, despite TTC CEO Andy Byford’s stern reminders, throughout the Scarborough debate, that the line is necessary now and will become more necessary thanks to the Scarborough extension. The approval, against the evidence, of the Bloor-Danforth subway to Sheppard and McCowan, where there are a few apartment buildings, a couple of car dealerships and a Canadian Tire, is a clear invitation for inner suburbs councillors to push, against the evidence, to “close the loop” between McCowan and Don Mills, where there is much of the same.

The question becomes, then: Do downtown politicians keep trying to appeal to the evidence? Or do they grab ahold of the crazy and dance?

The Liberals seem to be sticking with an unlikely plan to campaign on enacting “revenue tools” (i.e., taxes and fees) to build transit projects. Meanwhile, the Tories are positioning themselves, completely incredibly, as subway champions. They have no plausible funding plan: It’s all about finding efficiencies, they say, which was a big part of Mr. Ford’s failed transit platform. The New Democrats, who have five MPPs in Toronto ridings that could benefit hugely from transit improvements, are also borrowing a page from the Ford playbook: Taxpayers cannae take it anymore, captain!

As objectively unelectable as they are, there is an opportunity here, surely, for the Liberals — and an opportunity to build more subways, however haphazardly. The most basic DRL would connect downtown with Pape or some other station along the Danforth. That would massivelybenefit the NDP-held riding of Toronto-Danforth, and only slightly less massively the NDP-held riding of Beaches-East York. Depending on how far, extending that line west along Queen or some other thoroughfare could massively benefit the NDP-held ridings of Trinity-Spadina, Davenport and Parkdale-High Park. The latter would not be in keeping with the TTC’s funding priorities, it’s true. But then nobody in charge really seems to care about the TTC’s funding priorities.

It might be a bit awkward for some of the councillors in those ridings, several of whom are New Democrats. But if Mr. Ford, as proud a Tory as you’ll find, can see his way to advocate raising taxes for a subway that’s not objectively supportable, perhaps they should be finding their way to advocate raising taxes for a subway that’s considerably more supportable.

The insane, nonsensical, spittle-flecked battle for the subway we don’t need seems to have been won. Logic and reason have failed. As such, it might well be time for the insane, nonsensical, spittle-flecked battle for the one we do need to begin. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

TORONTO — Ontario’s information commissioner says a number of emails related to two cancelled gas plants have been recovered, even though she was told by the government that they couldn’t be found.

Ann Cavoukian says she’s “appalled” that she was given incorrect information during her investigation of missing emails, which were supposed to have been handed over to the legislative committee that’s looking into the gas plants.

Cavoukian says the Ministry of Government Services has accepted full responsibility for the mistake and will explain what happened within two weeks.

Energy critic Vic Fedeli says the emails belonged to Craig MacLennan, the former chief of staff at the Ministry of Energy who was singled out by Cavoukian in her scathing report last month.

“It strained credulity that no one thought maybe they should retain some of the emails, that there are retention obligations and things of that nature,” said Cavoukian.

“Suffice it to say I was not pleased, putting it mildly, and you will see that reflected in the report that comes out.”

The NDP asked Cavoukian to investigate after senior staff members in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s office, including former principal secretary Jamison Steeve and former deputy policy director Sean Mullin, testified at legislative hearings that they deleted their emails accounts.

Cavoukian also found there were no emails from McGuinty’s former chief of staff, Chris Morley, who has not yet testified at the justice committee hearings into the Liberals’ decisions to cancel gas plants at a cost of at least $585 million.

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“Our investigation is ongoing and we are leaving no stone unturned,” she said.

“We took the complaint very seriously, and we have conducted interviews and an extensive investigation.”

New Democrat Peter Tabuns, who asked Cavoukian to investigate the missing email accounts from senior Liberals, said there is no doubt the staffers knew the legal requirements to keep records after leaving the premier’s office.

“It certainly raises the suspicion that their records would be damaging to the Liberal government, and they decided that they would delete those records,” said Tabuns.

“An awful lot of records seem to have been destroyed contrary to the law. Clearly, if people are destroying records there needs to be a penalty for that.”

The Progressive Conservatives said someone in the Liberal team “went to great pains” to make sure that nobody ever sees what was destroyed.

“This is one of the biggest scandals to hit Ontario in decades and they knew that they’d be called upon and that their records would be called upon,” said PC energy critic Vic Fedeli.

“I can only speculate how damning the information must have been for them to have consciously hit the delete button.”

Government house leader John Milloy said the Liberals have now made public more than 180,000 pages of documents on the cancelled gas plants, including about 30,000 pages from the premier’s office.

“So there’s been lots of documentation from the premier’s office,” said Milloy.

“When it comes to specific individuals in specific instances, I have no knowledge of that situation.”

“This government will go to any lengths to keep from the public the facts and the truth about those gas plants, and this just shows that they’re even prepared to break the privacy laws of Ontario to hide the information,” said Horwath.

A frustrated Cavoukian told reporters lawyers are keeping her from speaking out about the Liberals’ slow and staggered release of thousands of other gas plant documents until her report is released in June.

“My lawyers muzzle me until the investigation report is actually out,” she said.

“But I think you’ll be pleased with the report. It goes into as much detail as we can possibly muster and we have left no stone unturned.”

The opposition parties say the Liberals cancelled the gas plants to save Liberal seats in the 2011 election, and accuse the government of trying to hide the true costs of the decisions.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/it-strained-credulity-ontario-privacy-commissioner-perplexed-why-top-mcguinty-staff-deleted-gas-plant-emails/feed1stdTA_Jury4.jpgDalton McGuinty testifies that it was his decision to kill gas plants at cost of $585-millionhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/former-ontario-premier-dalton-mcguinty-testifies-that-it-was-his-decision-to-kill-oakville-gas-plants
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/former-ontario-premier-dalton-mcguinty-testifies-that-it-was-his-decision-to-kill-oakville-gas-plants#commentsTue, 07 May 2013 13:42:33 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=304280

TORONTO, Ontario — Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty admitted Tuesday he did not know what it would cost when he made the decisions to cancel planned gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga and move them to other locations.

Testifying under oath at the legislature’s justice committee, McGuinty acknowledged in his opening statement that he made the decisions to scrap the two energy projects, which were widely opposed by local residents.

“In my office, we don’t have the capacity to make calculations associated with these kinds of contractual arrangements, or to make these kinds of estimates as to what ultimate costs might be,” he told the committee.

“I knew that going into this, that when I said we’re going to relocate gas plants, that I did not have at my hand the costs associated with that.”

The estimated cost of tearing up contracts with the developers of the gas plants and building new energy projects in Napanee and Lambton has soared to at least $585 million, far above the $230 million McGuinty and the Liberals had been claiming.

The gas plants were too close to homes and schools, said McGuinty, and wouldn’t have cleared the rules used to keep giant wind turbines at least 550 metres back from residential neighbourhoods.

“We were faced with a circumstance where gas plants were sited right next to schools, condominium towers, family homes and a hospital. That wasn’t right,” he said.

“Moving two gas plants cost more than any of us would have liked, and in return for the next 20 years children won’t be going to a neighbourhood school in a shadow of a smokestack, a polluted air shed won’t become more polluted and we’ll still have enough electricity to power our homes and economy.”

Progressive Conservative energy critic Vic Fedeli set the tone for the questioning of the former premier by going on the attack after McGuinty acknowledged it was his decision to cancel the gas plants.

“I must say premier that while you may have masterminded the heist, your henchmen committed the crime and drove the getaway car,” said Fedeli.

McGuinty and Fedeli clashed repeatedly, especially when McGuinty kept insisting the $40-million figure the Liberals had been using for the cost of cancelling the Oakville plant was what he knew to be the facts, until a recent updated figure of $310 million from the Ontario Power Authority.

“You keep saying that I’m not giving you an answer,” complained McGuinty, “Perhaps you don’t like the answer.”

I must say premier that while you may have masterminded the heist, your henchmen committed the crime and drove the getaway car

McGuinty said he took too long to realize the people of Oakville and Mississauga were right to oppose the gas plants and his government was wrong to try and build them.

“What became apparent — at least to me — was that getting out of this was going to be complicated and that there were going to be costs associated with that,” he said.

“But I’d much rather be here today talking to members of this committee, rather than ducking the people of Oakville and Mississauga over the course of the next 20 years as we put in place gas plants which never should have gone in there.”

McGuinty had blamed the heated debate over the gas plant cancellations last fall when he suddenly prorogued the legislature and announced his resignation as premier.

Since then, the auditor general reported the cost of cancelling the Mississauga gas plant during the 2011 election campaign was at least $275 million, $85 million more than McGuinty or the Liberals were admitting.

Frank Gunn / The Canadian PressFormer Premier and current Premier, McGuinty and Wynne.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/former-ontario-premier-dalton-mcguinty-testifies-that-it-was-his-decision-to-kill-oakville-gas-plants/feed3stdFormer Ontario Premier and Liberal Party Leader Dalton McGuinty testifies at Toronto's Queens Park regarding the gas power plants which have resulted in massive cancellation fees on Tuesday.Frank Gunn / The Canadian PressNeighbourhood News: Oakville is a safe harbourhttp://news.nationalpost.com/homes/neighbourhood-news
http://news.nationalpost.com/homes/neighbourhood-news#commentsSat, 04 May 2013 12:00:42 +0000http://life.nationalpost.com/?p=106519

Everyone wants to love their neighbourhood. It’s about more than the streets you use to get home after work, more than how far you are from transit or the dentist. It’s about connecting with the place and the people. This multi-part series explores some of the many vibrant neighbourhoods in and around the GTA and what makes them thrive.

Oakville, the suburban town in Halton Region, has a population of 182,520. At least half of those people wear yoga clothes, own hale dogs as well as a panoply of flat-screen TVs (that they don’t watch because they’re busily huffing it in sneakers down by the lake).

All this is conjecture, of course, gleaned one Sunday afternoon while on a reconnaissance mission of Oakville’s main drag, Bronte Village and the real estate on the treed pockets around the Lakeshore. Who lives in these capacious, character-filled houses, where birds caper on the front lawn like a montage out of a movie?

They’re joined by more than 300 companies, such as Ford and TDL Group, headquartered in the town founded by William Chisholm in 1837 and named for its majestic oaks. Here, 58% of residents hold a post-secondary education — a level 38% greater than the provincial average, according to the Town of Oakville. (The über-posh Appleby College is here on rolling fields that recall the film Dead Poets Society.) Meanwhile, Oakville Real Estate online reveals the average median income is $105,563 with an average house value of $720,943.

That society’s players reside in this squeaky-clean suburb with its pristine lakefront is no surprise. But dig deeper and there’s more to the story: Oakville has a thriving cultural scene, including theatres and art galleries. And shalom, there’s even a synagogue called Shaarei-Beth El that’s run by a rabbi-wife team in a town not exactly revered for its diversity.

It’s also not heralded as a spot for singles. Vanessa Head, 39, shares her townhouse with Bella, a miniature shih tzu, instead of being part of Oakville’s stereotypical upper-crust family of five. “I’ve lived in Oakville since 2001,” says Ms. Head, a spiritual practitioner and 20-year sailing nut (she mostly races, as opposed to cruises). “I love it for its small-town feel and it’s so beautiful — the green space is incredible.”

(To give you an idea: Oakville has 420 hectares of parkland that make up 200 parks — 31 are on the waterfront — 150 kilometres of trails and two harbours.)

Tim Fraser for National PostVanessa Head — also known by her sailing moniker, “Tripcy” — walks among the still-drydocked boats at her sailing club with her dog, Bella, and friend Maureen Bell.

Ms. Head is known in the sailing community by her nickname Tripcy. “It stands for Triple C — the coolest chick in Canada,” she says. “Twenty years ago, I was the only girl with all guys on a boat. They all had nicknames. This guy, Dave, came up with it. I had it tattooed on my back next to the butterfly.”

Ms. Head learned how to steer a boat in Cobourg, after reading Sailing for Dummies. “Experienced sailors say it’s an excellent book for rookies. I read it cover to cover. I impressed them when I showed up on the first day and said, ‘I don’t want to be deck fluff.’ That’s the girly-girl who doesn’t want to mess up her hair or break a nail.”

Eventually, Ms. Head moved from Cobourg to Oakville for work. “I was thrilled because there were limited yacht clubs where I was before. We have three different awesome ones here: My club, the member-run Oakville Yacht Squadron; Bronte Harbour Yacht Club; and the Oakville Club. It’s got the tennis courts, fitness and other amenities.”

Ms. Head says it’s a misnomer that sailing is a closed sport. “People think if you don’t own your own boat, you can’t do it, but a lot of people with sailboats are looking for a crew. There are tons of organizations and regattas. You can sail seven days a week on Lake Ontario.”

If this talk has you seasick, the town’s grounded activities are also pretty sweet. Oakville Galleries, a not-for-profit contemporary art museum with two locations (in Gairloch Gardens and Centennial Square), offer educational programs geared to children aged six to 12, summer camps and afterschool and weekend programs.

Tim Fraser for National PostEngagement photos being shot at Lakeside Park.

“For example, in March we partnered with [the Museum of Contemporary Art] for the Art Bus,” says Jennifer Bedford, the communications officer. “The tour started there, then you get on a bus to tour the Art Gallery of Hamilton then Oakville Galleries. There’s a public reception, food and beverages. It’s a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon,” she says. “We ask for a donation of $10. We’ve had Whole Foods sponsor us. People get a boxed lunch as well.” (All this for $10!)

But is interest in the arts growing? The answer in Oakville is a resounding yes.

Ronnie Brown, the co-ordinator of marketing at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, has been working at the theatre for 14 years.

“There’s been absolutely a big change in terms of how many people are coming to the theatre,” he says of the theatre that stages 260 performances a year. “When we started hosting bigger artists, the perception of the Oakville Centre — originally built for community groups — started to change.”

In the past, in addition to the usual comedies and tragedies one would find in a theatre, the house has welcomed Bill Cosby, Tower of Power and Serena Ryder. “We get people from all over, from upstate New York to Pennsylvania and Ohio for those shows. Boyz II Men were just there, which was a big draw.” (And no, it wasn’t tween central, Mr. Brown says. “They attract all age groups, mostly women.”)

Kristen MacEachern lives in Oakville, and enjoys the cultural scene, as well as its recreational activities. The dietician who travels by train to University Avenue during the week to get to her job at Mount Sinai Hospital says, “The commute is long, but I like where I live so it’s worth it.”

Ms. MacEachern lives in one of the newer subdivisions in Westoak Trails with her husband Chris Ellen, who works in sales. “We back onto a big pond where we see ducks, geese, possum and rabbits. We can even skate and cross-country ski on the pond,” she says, noting she also enjoys Midnight Madness.

Tyler Anderson / National Post filesSome 55% of GTA residents would support a London-style "downtown congestion tax," which has raised £286.5-million for that city in 2010-2011.

In its 36th year, the splashy food-filled affair is Oakville’s largest retail shindig, taking place on July 19 and 20, along the downtown stretch of shops and cafés. Last year, it drew 50,000 people. (This strip is lined with wonderful food spots, such as Just an Olde Fashioned Butchery and Seafood, known for its spiral honey hams and grilled sausages flaming away on the outdoor barbecues; the chic herringbone-floored Marilyn Monroe Café and Stoney’s Bread Company.) Another draw is Oakville’s 20-year-old jazz festival, on this year Aug. 9 to 11.

But, really, everyone knows the best gatherings are those where the dogs outnumber the humans: Labrapalooza, (which welcomes all breeds) is run by Laura Johnson of Labrador Retriever Adoption Service. It’s on Sept. 29 at the two-acre Kingsford leash-free park.

“Last year, 125 Labs and friends came out,” Ms. Johnson says. “There’s a vet [on-site] for medical chats, two trainers, a canine nutritionist. We had an OPP canine presentation and an agility course,” she says. “Really, it’s one big party. We have loads of fun and raise awareness for adopting a Lab and attracting foster homes.”

Michelle Salvia is a Web designer who gets 12,000 to 15,000 hits monthly on her site oakvillemoms.com, developed as a resource for families. She is continually “impressed by the number of events that happen in Oakville.”

Tim Fraser for National PostGroundskeepers at the Oakville Lawn Bowling Club get the green ready for the spring season.

Ms. Salvia lives with her husband, Domenic, and their two boys, ages five and seven. “I’ve been living here since 2002, since we’ve been married. I used to live in Bolton, but [my husband] had property and his whole family is here. I instantly fell in love with it.”

Her family lives in the north end, close to the new hospital being built on 50 acres at Dundas and Third Line. The facility is working toward a Silver LEED certification, the highest standard to be achieved by an Ontario hospital. When it’s completed, there will be ample parking, more single-patient rooms and an overall better, modern design.

“This is a multi-million dollar facility,” says a long-time Oakville resident who asked that his name not be used. “Oakville-born people are contributing to it. Mattamy Homes donated $10-million on it. This is a close-knit community, where we don’t mind paying higher taxes because you get beautiful infrastructure, high-end recreational facilities and amazing fire services and ambulances.

“Everyone shares the same ideology. In Toronto, there are constant complaints,” he says. “Your incremental gain for each tax dollar isn’t there.”

But it is here — and then some.

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]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/homes/neighbourhood-news/feed0stdOakville1WestCondoTim Fraser for National PostTim Fraser for National PostTim Fraser for National PostTim Fraser for National PostChris Selley: Ontario Liberals employ kindergarten logic on gas plant fiascohttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/chris-selley-ontario-liberals-employ-kindergarten-logic-on-gas-plant-fiasco
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/chris-selley-ontario-liberals-employ-kindergarten-logic-on-gas-plant-fiasco#commentsThu, 02 May 2013 13:33:49 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=115250

The Ontario Liberals are currently under fire for grossly underestimating, willfully or in blissful ignorance, the cost of relocating two gas-fired power plants — one in the lead-up to the last provincial election campaign and the other in the thick of it. It was $190-million for the plant in Mississauga and $40-million for the one in Oakville, the Liberals said once; as of this week a combined figure in the neighbourhood of $600-million is in play.

Goodness knows they deserve the beating they’re getting over this. The only caveat I would add is that spending $230-million in public funds to shore up a party’s chances in a few ridings is no more defensible than spending $600-million. It’s like the old joke about prostitutes: We’ve established what the Liberals are. Now we’re just haggling over the price.

That said, the ultimate cost of this fiasco is relevant — at least I dearly hope it is — because people seem to draw a distinction between corruption that takes place behind closed doors, or is clearly illegal, and corruption that takes place out in the open where everyone can see it. (I almost find the latter more appalling; it’s like Dalton McGuinty smiling at you and patting your head — “good citizen; such a pretty Ontarian” — as he steals your wallet and tosses it to his campaign team. But clearly mine is a minority view.)

But there must be some level of expenditure so obscene, so grotesque, at which even quiescent Ontarians would rise up in fury at the Liberals’ actions, even if they see them as merely an extreme form of politics-as-usual. If it wasn’t $40-million or $190-million or $300-million, is it perhaps half a billion? The full billion? Two? Surelywe must be approaching that level of waste, if we’re not there yet.

Ah, but then we arrive at an unpleasant truth: The Progressive Conservatives (in no uncertain terms) and New Democrats (in somewhat less certain terms) also said they would relocate the plant. Infrastructure and transportation minister Glen Murray tweeted as such this week in response to some expressed annoyances about the ever-rising price tag of the Liberals’ staggering cynicism: “All 3 parties announced at the same time that they would relocate the plants,” he said.

Behold, the state of political leadership in Canada: The Liberals started these projects; they were in every position to find out how much cancelling them would cost; they cancelled them without finding out (or without caring); and now, while Premier Kathleen Wynne expresses her regret over the affair, one of her Cabinet ministers attempts to calm us down by noting that other parties, with less information, had the same basic terrible idea.

It’s kindergarten logic — the equivalent of “he dared me” or “she did it first.” The Liberals are quite rightly reduced to begging for another chance at government. It would be nice to think their front bench took governing more seriously than opposition. At least the Tories and New Democrats would have had the chance to look at the bill and renege on their position. Dalton “hidden deficit” McGuinty could have told them exactly how to execute that manoeuvre.

I have even heard this “they all promised it” line from non-partisans. They use it not to argue for voting this way or that but for not worrying about it too much. This is maddening on a philosophical level: That we have been reduced to expecting this morally decrepit behaviour from politicians does not absolve us of our duty to demand better. And it is maddening on a practical level, too: $600-million is hardly chump change. It’s $44 per Ontarian. It’s a 5% pay-down on the projected 2013 provincial deficit. Or it’s any number of potentially quite useful elements in a provincial budget — tax cuts, raising welfare rates, building mass transit, take your pick. This is bad governance, plain and simple, and it deserves to be answered for.

Mr. Murray is of the school of Tweeting politicians who come in hot on defence spouting nonsense, apparently under the impression that nonsense will somehow win the day against reasonably intelligent-or-smarter non-partisans who know nonsense when they see it, and then disappear when their nonsense is called out. (Federal Conservative minister Tony Clement is the master of the art.) It is useful to see how little esteem some of our elected officials hold us in. Just because there is no obvious or personally palatable ballot-box remedy doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be furious about monumental screw-ups like Ontario’s gas plants.

TORONTO — The Ontario Power Authority keeps changing the estimated cost for cancelling a gas plant in Oakville, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Tuesday as she appealed to the opposition to wait for the auditor general’s report into the energy project.

Hours after OPA CEO Colin Andersen put the estimated cost at $310 million, Wynne testified under oath at the legislature’s justice committee to explain why her government continually referred to a $40-million cost for cancelling the Oakville plant.

“Whenever I have stood and used a number, that has been the number that I have understood to be the real number,” she told the committee.

“I believe the complexity and the fact that the OPA numbers keep changing justifies my decision to call in the auditor. We need to wait for the auditor general’s report.”

The auditor general reported the cost of halting another gas plant in Mississauga in mid-construction, just days before the 2011 election, was $275 million, $85 million more than the Liberals had been admitting. The auditor’s report into the Oakville gas plant won’t be ready until late summer.

Wynne also testified that she wasn’t involved in the decisions to cancel the two gas plants in order to help save Liberal seats in the region, and said in the end the party bowed to the wishes of local residents.

“The siting of these two plants failed to take into account the views of the community,” she said.

“Despite expert advice, an open procurement process and all the decision points along the way, the overall process failed.”

Even though she was Liberal campaign co-chair in 2011, Wynne said she learned about the decision to cancel the Mississauga plant through the media.

Wynne voluntarily agreed to testify under oath at the justice committee. As premier she could have declined to appear, but said she wanted to signal she was being open and transparent on the gas plants file.

Earlier Tuesday, the OPA gave the committee two new estimates for the cost of cancelling the Oakville plant and moving it to Napanee, a figure of $241 million from outside consultants it hired and a revised $310 million from the OPA itself.

“I guarantee that these numbers will continue to evolve and be debated as more information becomes available and assumptions, discount rates and planning scenarios are developed further,” said Andersen.

“Projects of this size and complexity have many moving parts and their costs evolve over time, and estimates are often very dependent on methodology, assumptions and judgment calls.”

Projects of this size and complexity have many moving parts and their costs evolve over time, and estimates are often very dependent on methodology, assumptions and judgment calls

The Opposition said the updated estimates were proof the Liberals misled the public when they repeatedly said Oakville cost $40 million, which Andersen said is accurate to describe only the so-called “sunk costs” — money that cannot be recovered.

“It’s seven times greater than the province, the premier, the energy ministers in succession have all admitted to,” said PC energy critic Vic Fedeli.

The New Democrats also said it was clear the Liberals intentionally downplayed the cost of the Oakville project by repeatedly speaking only about the sunk costs.

The Conservatives moved a non-confidence motion in the minority Liberals Monday over the cancelled gas plants, a move the other parties called a publicity stunt knowing the government will never call it for a vote.

TORONTO — Premier Kathleen Wynne refuses to apologize for low-balling the $275-million cost of the Ontario government’s decision to pull the plug on a gas plant in Mississauga by $85 million.

Wynne says she accepted responsibility for what she admits was a political decision by the Liberals to cancel the Mississauga gas plant in mid-construction, just days before the October 2011 election.

However, even though she was Liberal campaign co-chair at the time, Wynne declined repeated requests to say sorry for the higher-than-expected price tag of the cancellation, which was confirmed by the auditor general.

Wynne said she regrets that the government didn’t make the decision to cancel the gas plant earlier, and would do a better job of locating energy projects in the future.

The Progressive Conservatives accuse Wynne of intentionally downplaying the true cost of scrapping the Mississauga project and another gas plant they cancelled in Oakville in 2010.

The Liberals have said the Oakville decision will cost $40 million, and Wynne said today she won’t update that figure until the auditor issues his report into that cancelled project in August or September.

TORONTO — Ontario’s opposition parties expressed frustration and doubt Thursday at testimony from Dalton McGuinty’s former chief of staff about the cancelled gas plant in Oakville, prompting the government to accuse the Tories of attacking their own witness.

As CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, and later the then-premier’s chief of staff, David Livingston was directly involved in talks with TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) about compensation for cancelling the contract for the Oakville project.

Livingston told the justice committee he didn’t know TransCanada had rejected an offer of almost $1-billion, and another of $721-million, when he joined the negotiations to look for possible solutions for the government.

“I’ve seen that and I’ve heard that, but that’s not obvious to me that that’s what happened,” he told the committee.

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“The government was a signatory to this agreement and you’re saying as the chief of staff you had no involvement, no knowledge whatsoever of this $991-million deal,” he asked Livingston.

“Quite frankly I’m having a hard time with that, I’ve got to be honest. I’m baffled at this. We’ve got the man sitting here in front of us who did the deal.”

The New Democrats were equally frustrated when Livingston testified he wasn’t briefed that there would be extra costs for cancelling the Oakville plant above the $40-million the government claims.

“Nobody told me,” said Livingston.

“There was not a discussion that there was more money involved than the $40 million.”

The opposition parties warn the cancellation of the Oakville gas plant could cost Ontario taxpayers over $1 billion.

“So the minister of energy and the deputy minister never told you or anyone else in the premier’s office that in fact we’re talking about a lot more than $40 million here,” asked NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns.

“Like my colleague, I find that quite extraordinary.”

Outside the committee, the opposition parties continued their attack on Livingston.

“I don’t find it credible that he knew nothing about this case before he took it on,” said Tabuns.

“He’s sent in as the fixer, has no budget ceiling, and also has absolutely no experience in the energy sector and he designs five options where to site energy plants,” said Fedeli.

“That is absolutely incredible and, quite frankly, not very credible.”

That is absolutely incredible and, quite frankly, not very credible

Liberal committee chair Bob Delaney warned the opposition parties they were on shaking ground with their “shameful” attacks on Livingston outside the hearing room.

“I think this has been completely reprehensible, a witness called by the Progressive Conservatives turned into an attack on his character,” said Delaney.

“Both the PC and NDP have accused a man of not telling the truth under oath, and they produced absolutely nothing to substantiate it.”

The Liberals say the Tories should be calling the former deputy minister of energy to testify about the cancelled project because it had the lead role on the gas plants, not Livingston.

The committee is holding public hearings into the cancelling of the Oakville gas plant in 2010 and another in Mississauga that was halted in mid-construction by the Liberals during the 2011 election campaign.

Auditor General Jim McCarter is also investigating the costs of scrapping the two energy projects, and is expected to release his report on the Mississauga gas plant in about three weeks.

OAKVILLE, Ont. — Hundreds of hardy Canadians welcomed the new year Tuesday with a splash into icy waters at Polar Bear Dip events across the country.

About 800 participants at this year’s largest charity gathering, the Courage Polar Bear Dip, stripped down to their skivvies or donned outlandish costumes before jumping into Lake Ontario in Oakville, Ont.

According to organizers, the event, held just west of Toronto at Coronation Park, first began in 1995 and has since raised a total of $1,060,000 for the charity World Vision Canada.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew VaughanA reveller takes the plunge during the annual New Year's Day polar bear dip in Herring Cove, N.S., on Tuesday.

This year, more than $120,000 will be donated to fund water projects Rwanda.

While waiting for the dip to begin, event co-founder Trent Courage says the tradition of doing a New Year Day’s dip started with his mother Gaye who “forced” him and his brother into the lake 28 years ago because she heard of a similar Scandinavian practice.

Since then, the family has continued on the tradition, with him bringing his own young sons each year to join in on the fun with hundreds of others.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank GunnSanta greets Courage Polar Bear dippers as they leave the water at Coronation Park in Oakville Tuesday.

“It was basically just something to do on New Year’s Day to basically start the year afresh, cleanse the soul, sort to speak,” said Courage, donning a bathrobe on the beach trying to stay warm.

The Oakville resident says the event not only brings together families and adrenaline junkies — it also draws those who come dressed in costume.

Over the years, organizers have seen dippers dressed in wedding gowns, tuxedos and geisha outfits. This year was no exception, a man dressed as Baby New Year equipped with a diaper, sash and top hat and a trio of Smurf characters could be spotted in the crowd.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank GunnTwo of the many Courage Polar Bear dippers race into Lake Ontario.

Courage says participants are drawn by the camaraderie of the event, but also that it’s all for a good cause.

“You run in. It’s exhilarating. You hyperventilate, your feet start to hurt to be honest with you but when you get changed, you start to feel amazing,” he said. “No matter what, it’s always very cold.”

Cathy Sewell screamed with hundreds of others as she charged into frigid Lake Ontario.

On Tuesday, Environment Canada reported temperatures going down to -6 C, with a wind chill of -11.

The 48-year-old Milton, Ont., woman says she had been wanting to do the dip for years and is happy to now be able to cross it off her bucket list.

“I can’t believe I did it. It’s very cold but I did it,” said Sewell, shivering underneath a towel following the event.

“I went down [in the water] just to the thighs and I did a dip. I’m very happy. It’s great.”

The lively event featured live music, prize draws and celebrity guests. Local emergency crews were also on standby in the water and on the beach as a precaution.

In Vancouver, thousands of swimmers gathered on the beach at English Bay, where the afternoon sun penetrated the grey overcast sky.

Organizers pegged the outside temperature at 6 C, with the water temperature around 7 C.

An Oakville family is “devastated” after a thief broke into their car and stole a box of irreplaceable mementoes of their dead infant son.

Police believe the suspect entered the vehicle, parked in the family’s driveway on Dale Ridge Drive, early Tuesday morning and removed several items, including a small, white, decorative box covered in a pattern of roses.

The family is quite obviously devastated and hopeful the items will be returned to them

Inside was a small bracelet, a rosary, an angel and a small stone engraved with the name “Ethan.”

The boy died as an infant, police said.

“The family is quite obviously devastated and hopeful the items will be returned to them,” Sgt. Dave Cross said Thursday.

Police were continuing to investigate the crime, and had not yet determined whether video surveillance footage from nearby residences may be available.

“There is nothing to indicate those responsible knew of the sentimental value attached to these items, nor what they actually were at the exact time of the theft,” Sgt. Cross added. “I would implore [the thief] to contact Crime Stoppers to report the location of the items so they can be returned promptly.”